I went to get my free flu shot at work today, and found out chicken eggs were involved in the process (I had to answer whether or not I was allergic to eggs before receiving the shot).
I asked if they had any alternatives, and they said they didn’t because they were too expensive. I ended up getting the flu shot they offered.
Do you get the standard flu shot, or a vegan variant? How much do you pay, if the latter, and where can you find it?
Edit 1 year later: I took FluBlok this time around, which doesn’t use eggs. Offered at my local supermarket pharmacy and quite a few other places nearby.
Thank you for the link. The mammalian cell option seems like a good one, since it seems like no creatures are harmed to gather the cells. Or, at least, any harm is abstracted to an additional level.
I would say though, taking the vaccine is an active choice that I can weigh my options on, while unknowingly/mistakenly consuming insects is not. The latter is regrettable but unavoidable, so I wouldn’t blame myself for that. To the best of my ability I want to avoid contributing to animal suffering, so part of living up to the “best of my ability” part is looking into alternatives in the one-off cases like this one.
Appreciate your input, thanks again